The Diary of Izayoi
by Ayamegusa
Summary: A House in social and financial decline, and an ultimatum of marriage; something which Izayoi wants no part. Now with her parents threat of public humiliation, will the lonely, young hime find a friend in a youkai?
1. Chapter 1

The characters of Inuyasha (manga and anime) belong to Takahashi Rumiko

The Diary of Izayoi

* * *

Izayoi never thought she would be so fearful of her life. Born into a wealthy family of nobles, she was a young woman brought up with everything she could desire. Growing up, she was graced with beauty and a gentle nature, like a flower in everlasting bloom. Perhaps this was why people sometimes thought that she was too naïve and fragile to understand the world around her. However, today she did understand, all too clearly.

It all began when she had entered the tenth year from when she was born. She had sensed that all was not right with her home. Little by little, the properties and lands surrounding their castle gradually dwindled in size, taken over by lords of neighbouring lands. There was strain on the nobles' faces as they silently conversed with each other, behind her back, although all she had to do was to listen to the servants as they gossiped away while cleaning the food trays. And finally, her parents, loving as they were, had begun to talk of marriage. An idea Izayoi did not quite believe in, until she noticed the first foreign prince presented before her in the large throne room, richly dressed in fine silks, and in the company of his servants and vast amounts of gifts.

If only he could see her expression from behind the screen, and she was glad he could not as she herself was only slowly beginning to realise what was happening, when one of the ladies-in-waiting handed the young hime a note filled with words of love.

At first, Izayoi greeted every subsequent prince who was presented before her with timidness, every time thankful that the screen before her protected her true emotions. The ladies-in-waiting giggled and blushed at every dark-haired man – young princes and lords – retelling her how handsome they were, how wealthy, and how much power they held within the country. Every time, she conversed with the man in question with her gentle voice, listening intently as she could as he prattled on about how much he was enchanted by her charms, her grace, and how long he toiled in attempt to write a poem to describe her very nature in such a few lines. Every time the same thing would occur, each time a polite rejection was given to every single man, and by the time of the seventh lunar cycle, the hime grew slightly weary of them, much to the surprise and often disappointment of her parents.

They too, grew weary of her continued outburst of stubborn behaviour, so out of character for such a gentle and proper girl such as Izayoi. So many suitable noblemen were offered by them for their daughter, but instead of submitting and selecting the most suitable and wealthy noble as a husband, she had decided to refuse, without any sort of explanation for such a vulgar attitude.

"Why?" her father finally asked one night after yet another failed courtship meeting.

Izayoi kept her eyes facing to the ground, wanting to protest her innocence. How could she bring herself to be interested in someone when there was no interest to begin with? Though she remained silent, her shaking hands betrayed her, which did not please her parents at all. Didn't she realise that she was being selfish? Their house of nobles was declining in wealth and power, and yet their daughter was refusing to fulfil her important duty of a prosperous marriage.

"I will not tolerate your defiance. You will be married, Izayoi, whether you like it or not."

For the first time, the young hime had never felt so scared for her life. Her parents had stated quite plainly that she would be sold off to the one who would be willing to pay, and if not, Izayoi would be publicly humiliated by the fact that it was she who allowed their status to decline.

Left alone in her bed chambers, Izayoi wept in a fit of despair, unable to contain her calm any longer. What was she going to do; she had no one to confide in, no one to talk to.

She was all alone, only awaiting her time to be married off to some lord. Oh how she despised the idea.

The sounds of her sorrow echoed around the room, floating into the still night until it reached into the canine ears of a youkai. A no ordinary youkai, for he was the size of a mountain with a fierce face and eyes the colour of amber. The noise had alerted him as he flew over the human palace, and so he swooped down to investigate, his presence noticed by the hime when she saw the monstrous silhouette pass across the shoji door before disappearing just as quickly.

Fearful, and a little bit curious, she found herself sliding the door open as far as she dared, looking into the garden to see what the creature could possibly be. Except when she found nothing out of the ordinary, Izayoi sighed in disappointment. That was until she heard a voice apparently coming from behind a tree, a voice that caused her to blush.

It was a man. It was a man, alone with her, with no one else to see. What would her parents say when they found out she was with someone without their knowledge? She was already in deep trouble as it was.

"Why were you crying?" he asked, curious.

"I-I was not…" she stammered in reply.

"Of course you were. I could smell your tears."

This statement somewhat startled the hime. How was it possible for this man to smell her tears? For a mere man, it was impossible.

"But I'm not a man. Well, not exactly. I'm a youkai."

At this, Izayoi gasped, running hurriedly back into her room, and slamming the door behind her before the youkai had the chance to react.

The following day, the young hime did not dare tell anyone of her encounter with the mysterious youkai. Not that she could, everyone was too concerned with their own problems. So, Izayoi decided to spend time in the garden, the same garden where she had heard the voice from the previous night. It was silly she knew, however there was a sense of eagerness in hearing his voice again, or was it anxiety? She couldn't really tell. Who and what could this creature be? Did he have a certain appearance, or perhaps he was merely a spirit wanting to talk with her. So many possibilities and Izayoi had no clear idea. All she could do was to wait and find out when she had the chance.

* * *

Night had fallen, yet the hime was still wide awake, her attentions focussed solely on the door. The whole day had seemed to take forever, but she was glad when the wait was over when she saw what she was looking for: the same fearsome shadow flying across the door before disappearing again into nothing. Peeking through the gap of the door, Izayoi cautiously padded onto the porch and into the moonlit garden.

"Why did you run away from me?" the same voice asked, this time, sounding a little upset. "That wasn't very nice."

"W-well," she tried to say, without sounding offended. "How am I supposed to react when a strange man out of nowhere, starts talking to me, and then saying he is a youkai."

"So you think I am strange?"

Izayoi was bewildered for a proper answer, so it was her silence that answered in her place. And as the silence continued to linger, the atmosphere around them grew increasingly uncomfortable.

"A-are you still there?" she said, not wanting him to leave because of her hesitation. Walking towards the direction where she thought she heard the sound, she tried to look for him amongst the flower bushes and behind the tree, saying, "Where do you come from?"

To her relief, the man answered.

"I come from far way. My home is in the mountains."

Izayoi couldn't help but smile. The man sounded pleasant enough, though she knew very well of stories of youkai who would make themselves appear more charming and kind. A romantic creature, who would spy on the young maiden for a few days before asking the maiden's hand in marriage, or try to steal them away in their sleep, or worse. It was a story her mother was always fond of telling. Besides, she thought to herself, if this youkai did live in such a faraway place, high up in the mountains, why would he bother to come to see her?

"Actually, it was your gardens," he admitted, sheepishly, "I… well… I was surveying my lands when I chanced upon your lovely greenery. It smelt divine… Uh, very fresh…"

"Oh," the hime's smile grew bigger. "Do you like it? I tend to them myself sometimes, although my parents do disapprove. They'd rather see me arranging flowers than digging up dirt.

"Gardens are very comforting. They are so vibrant, the flowers, the leaves… every season there is something different. Gardens are always there, even when people would rather turn you away."

"Then, you are lonely?"

"I… I don't know…" she blushed, feeling uneasy about his question. Izayoi had not really thought about being lonely. Was she lonely? The palace was always filled with people, from the highest nobles, to the servants. Always surrounded by people, and yet… not since her father's announcement…

Tears began to fill her eyes, as a sudden overwhelming grief caused her to run into her room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"You know, you really shouldn't do that," he said the following night, once more, sounding a little upset. "Or else I'm going to start thinking that my presence actually offends you."

The young girl had never felt so embarrassed, with her cheeks feeling very hot indeed. It seemed no matter how many times she bowed and apologised for her actions, she could feel that he was only making fun of her at her expense. She didn't mean to burst out into tears. But then, he didn't have the right to say such things to her, because it was he who had reminded her of the terrible fate she was about to endure.

"Where are you anyway? I cannot keep talking to the air. And, who are you, really? So that I might know what kind of person you are." With this, Izayoi held her breath, more out of fear than anything else. How was she supposed to know if it was safe, if this youkai did not really want to eat her, and wasn't simply toying with her to make her feel a false sense of security?

However, when he finally stepped out from behind the tree, the young hime's breath was taken away by his ethereal beauty.

Like a fairy tale.

The moonlight highlighted the silver locks of his long hair, and made his eyes glow eerily, a true creature of the unknown.

"I am, my dear lady," he began, "known as the Inu Youkai, the Inu no Tashio. Lord of the mountains, and the lands below."

Izayoi's face paled at this, and hastily lowered her head to the ground so that her eyes would not meet his. He was a lord, a youkai lord of military bearing, no less, here to ask her hand in marriage. Here, on the pretence of being friendly, someone to talk to when she had no one else. Even though those exact words did not come from his mouth, he had played the part well, and now Izayoi was trapped by a custom which dictated that any man and woman, who met together for three consecutive days, would be in effect, 'together'.

"I assure you," he insisted. "It's nothing like that, your garden—"

"My garden…? You… you…," she fumed, "how dare you! And I…, I thought… Well, I am not going to marry you, no matter how much money you can dangle in front of my parents."

The only thing the youkai could do was to watch the hime storm back into her bed chambers, but not before she managed to throw a fist full of dirt in his direction. Blinking as he brushed the dirt off his armour, he began to wonder what he had said to deserve such a reaction.

"What a strange girl…" he then mused, floating up into the air using his moko-moko, feeling a little perplexed, and rather hurt. Still, something like this was not going to stop him. The tears of the girl had piqued his interest, and the way she had looked, with her sad, dark eyes, told him that he should help her. That, and her habit of running away from him before they had the chance to properly talk, infuriated him.

After all, what kind of youkai would he be to let a lady cry?

* * *

Rusty writing...


	2. Chapter 2

The characters of Inuyasha (manga and anime) belong to Takahashi Rumiko

The Diary of Izayoi – 2

* * *

A hard rap on the shoji door startled the young hime, Izayoi to awaken. Yawning, she stretched her arms, the knocks on the door becoming more frantic, which was then joined by a female voice calling out to her for attention.

"Izayoi-hime, Izayoi-hime," the servant cried out as she burst into the room. "I have to get you ready as quickly as possible. You're expected at the royal chambers."

Hurriedly, the servant forcibly dressed Izayoi in the most luxurious of silk kimono, the action causing her great surprise, as something like this was only warranted for the most special of occasions.

_Oh no…_ All her fears were realised when she entered the chamber through the sliding doors, this time with no screen to hide behind from the man she laid her eyes upon, no screen to hide her body from shaking. Even the many layers of silks which clothed the hime, felt too transparent to hide the fact she was trembling to the point of fainting on the spot, though the dizziness did subside somewhat when she kneeled in front of the suitor her parents were presenting her with.

He smiled at her, and in return, Izayoi to inwardly gulped at his mousey appearance. If she were a common type of woman in an ordinary village, she would have gawked at his appearance, silently of course. Even if she were not a hime, it would be unladylike to do so. After what she had witnessed the previous night, how breathtaking a man – she blushed at the thought – could look, compared to him, with his black short hair and brown eyes, this one appeared… plain.

"To be honest, my lord," she heard her mother say, sounding quite appreciative. "We were not expecting someone of your stature to take interest in our daughter, and if I may be so bold, very wealthy, judging by your clothes."

"W-well, clothes are not everything, my lady. Surely one such as your esteemed selves can understand this." The boy then gestured to the many gifts he had to offer, the offer causing the eyes of her parents to gleam with reserved delight.

"Father?" the hime protested, clenching at his long sleeves.

"Izayoi, we had given you a choice of suitor, and yet you refused each and every one. We have not liked your defiant behaviour. If you were not my daughter, I would have said your behaviour was suspiciously traitorous.

With those last words, Izayoi was sent away to the awaiting carriage, her fate sealed before she could even protest.

* * *

For the rest of the journey, the lone occupant remained silent inside the carriage, her dark eyes staring at the walls of her cage, not really noticing how violently it rocked back and forth with each movement. The young hime was mortified, how could her own parents do this to her, to abandon her for the sake of saving their noble positions? Was this the price to pay for being of royal birth? Surely she must have done something bad in her previous life to earn such a fate.

A sudden jolt from the carriage caused her to peep through the curtains, and she shrieked out loud when she saw that she was thousands of kilometres above the ground, in fact, the whole carriage and its entourage were flying above the clouds.

"Don't worry, hime-sama," a voice bellowed towards her, and from what looked like a very, very large canine creature. "We're nearly there."

"Nearly where?" Izayoi should back, the furious winds blowing around her making it difficult to speak any clearer. "Where are you taking me? I have the right to know!" Of course her rights were taken away when she was forced out of the castle. Still, she wished to know the location, seeing that it was youkai beasts that were carrying her away to an unknown destination. And when the youkai did not make the attempt to answer her question, she began to bang her fists against the carriage, and when that didn't work, the young girl began to use her body weight to sway the carriage to and fro, and even then the entourage didn't realise what was going on until they heard Izayoi scream when she fell out from her transport.

The youkai canine could only watch in disbelief as he saw the precious hime fall away from him. Quickly, he flew down after her, only to stop short when he saw another youkai catch the wayward girl on his back.

"I'm so sorry, my Lord," the youkai servant lamented. "She just—"

"Don't worry yourself, boy. She'll be all right." The Inu-no-Taisho then gently picked up his passenger by the collar and sent her down to the wooden floor. He then poked her with his muzzle, urging her to open her tightly shut eyes.

She whimpered in response.

"It's all right. You're safe now. No more flying in the sky for you today."

Cautiously, Izayoi lifted her head, and saw a familiar face, only this time in full daylight. She made a small gasping sound, but the words that came from her mouth were not exactly the response the youkai lord was waiting to hear.

"You… you kidnapped me?"

"I beg your pardon?" he replied, dumbfounded.

"I-I told you that I was not going to marry you, so you thought by kidnapping me, you would have changed my mind?"

"Now look here, girl," he began, trying to tower over the tiny human. "It is a bad habit to make assumptions such as that. Can you not see that I have rescued you?"

"Rescued me from what?" Izayoi asked, tilting her head to one side in confusion.

"From marriage of course, did you not say you wanted no part in getting married? So, that is what I did." The youkai grinned, feeling quite proud of his latest achievement.

However, she just looked strangely at him, an expression the Lord was becoming quite unnerved by. Perhaps his brilliant idea that he had spent pondering about the whole night was not as welcomed by the girl as he had hoped.

"So you thought by kidnapping me, you would get your chance by getting rid of all other suitors?"

"Would you stop with this kidnapping idea? I was just trying to help you."

"I want to go home… please. My parents… would be very worried if they knew it was all a mistake."

I-I don't think so," the servant boy said, trying to defend his master. "They appeared very happy when—"

The complexion on the hime's face turned completely white, which was already pale, and a few moments later her lips began to tremble as a flood of tears sprang from her eyes, until she crumbled forward in heavy sobs.

Both the Inu-no-Taisho and the servant stared at the heap of silks and long black tresses, and in the end all they could do was to carry the poor girl into the spare sleeping chambers, where she stayed huddled under the covers, refusing to speak to anyone, and unable to stop herself from shaking.

'Why…? Why did it have to be this way?' she wanted to cry out to the world, but really, would anyone listen to someone as small as her?

She sighed, hugging the heavy covers closer to her chest, breathing deeply to calm her shaken nerves. Izayoi dreaded what was going to happen next, in a place full of terrible creatures, and what made the situation worse was that the palace was filled with youkai, of royal heritage it seemed. There was no chance of escape, and even managing that, there was no chance of her parents accepting her back. To their eyes she was as good as married to a wealthy _human _lord, meaning they could lead the rest of their lives in total comfort.

If only they knew of her dilemma.

_I'm married to him… _Izayoi sobbed silently into her blanket, fresh tears pouring out uncontrollably in the knowledge that there was nothing she could do to stop or deny the fact she had been stolen away to marry a youkai.

* * *

The Inu-no-Taisho stood outside the human's door with a full pout on his face. He should have known she would have done this sort of thing, running away and then shutting the door in his face. Well, it didn't happen this time, he had to carry the distraught girl to the room, but still…

"How long are you going to stand there, chichi-ue?" his only son, Sesshoumaru asked inquisitively.

"She doesn't even let me talk and then she just slams the door in my face, _my _face."

"I don't think haha-ue is going to be very happy when she comes home." Sesshoumaru tried again, tugging on his father's kimono.

"Why do women have to be so difficult, Sesshoumaru?" the older youkai asked his son.

"I wouldn't know, chichi-ue. Maybe you should just ignore her for a while."

The Lord smiled at his son's logical mind, ruffling his hair until the boy shouted in disapproval. He then scooped him up in his arms to even more protests, and carried him down the hallway towards his awaiting wife.

"Hello, my dear," he said, kissing his wife's hand. "I trust you found what you were looking for."

"Yes, shopping for silks can be very tiresome. I couldn't believe how many shades of purple there were, and so many patterns to choose from. I almost ended up not buying anything at all. And what have you been up to?" She edged closer to embrace her husband, but drew back when she caught a whiff of a foreign scent, a feminine scent. "What _have_ you been up to?"

"What do you mean?" he asked in earnest.

"I have a nose too, you know."

"Chichi-ue brought home a girl, a human girl," added Sesshoumaru, helpfully.

The Lady of the household blinked, looking at her husband for an answer.

"Oh, the girl," he grinned. "She… well she was in trouble, so I decided to help her. It is a dreadful thing for a young woman, a girl no less to get married to someone whom she doesn't even know."

The youkai woman simply rolled her eyes at his response, saying, "That is just like you. How many more things do you have to bring home every time you go out on your little adventures, before I have to say enough is enough? But really, this is too much. A human, you say? Do not say you were planning to eat her for dessert? How long has it been since we've had human for tea? What fun—"

"We are not going to eat her, my darling. You know that." He watched as his wife's eyes opened up in surprise before settling for an almost devious expression, complete with trying to look innocent while having said expression. Any other man would have lost their resolution at this point. However, the Inu-no-Taisho was no ordinary man, or youkai for that matter.

"Hn… she must be really something for you to get so defensive. But then again, you always did have a soft spot for humans. Now you have piqued my interest, my darling husband. I must see this human for myself."

"I don't think that would be a good idea, she's probably still upset. After that… that," the youkai cleared his throat, "unfortunate happenings."

But the Lady of the household just waved him off, kissing him sweetly on his cheek. "Well, we really cannot have an upset woman in this house. And don't you worry about me. I won't eat her, unless I really want to."


End file.
